Rebecca Pan

When reminiscing about the opulent years of old Shanghai, you might conjure images of the swinging jazz tunes wafting through nightclubs, Chinese classic songs enriched with Western musical arrangements, the lively Charleston dance, and poignant melodies like “When Will You Return” and “Waiting for You to Come Back”. In a serendipitous convergence of seasons, M+ presented an exhibition Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts, and Textile) posed an intriguing question: Who is Rebecca Pan? These two Chinese women, both born in the 1930s, had remarkable life stories, one revered as “Madame Song” and the other affectionately referred to as “Sister Pan”. They each held numerous titles: Song Huai Gui was celebrated as the “pioneer of the arts”, a...